Sponsor

Sponsor

Dayton: Could have won re-election, but no regrets

(AP) Sen. Mark Dayton called it quits after one
term because he was afraid he might cost Democrats a Senate seat.
Now, he says he thinks he would have beaten Republican Mark
Kennedy.

"But if you'd give me a piece of paper, even today, and said,
'Sign here on the bottom line, and you'll be a senator for another
six-year term,' I wouldn't sign it," Dayton said in an interview
in his Capitol Hill office Friday.

As his fellow Democrats celebrate their return to power, Dayton
was wishing them well but seemed content to walk away. By his
account and others, he was never a good fit in the Senate.

"It's a very frustrating place," he said.

Many of Dayton's initiatives - such as his uphill battle to get
Congress to live up to its promise to provide more money for
special education - never got through the Senate.

Others, such as his amendment preventing members of Congress
from getting a better prescription drug benefit than Medicare
beneficiaries, passed the Senate overwhelmingly in 2003, only to be
stripped out in House-Senate negotiations.

“I thought it was a typically low blow by a bunch of sewer
rats, who specialize in that kind of campaign.”

Sen. Mark Dayton on Kennedy campaign tactics.

Former Sen. Dave Durenberger, a Minnesota Republican who
defeated Dayton in the 1982 Senate race, said that Dayton would
have done better in a more bipartisan era.

"It was a lot more political than he was prepared for,"
Durenberger said. "He's the kind of person who probably would have
fit in another time. Most of the time he was in the minority. There
was always the challenge of President Bush and the Republican
agenda."

Former Vice President and Minnesota Sen. Walter Mondale, a
Democrat, called Dayton a good senator who had the disadvantage of
being in the minority through most of his term.

"And that is hard," Mondale said, "particularly during these
times when politics is so belligerent. If you're in the minority,
you're like a bug on the road."

Dayton said he has no regrets leaving the Senate even though he
would have been in the majority next year.

"I would be 70th in seniority if I had been re-elected," said
Dayton, who began his Senate career last in seniority six years
ago. "I still wouldn't be chairing a subcommittee. I'd still be on
the bottom half of seniority on the committees."

Dayton, a multimillionaire department store heir, spent about
$12 million of his own money to fund his winning campaign over
Republican Sen. Rod Grams in 2000. But he decided he couldn't
afford to self-fund another campaign, and struggled to raise money,
which he said he detested.

In the summer of 2004, during a congressional recess, he closed
his Washington office, saying a secret intelligence report made him
fear for his staff's safety. That led to widespread criticism.

Sagging in both the polls and fundraising, Dayton announced in
February of last year that he would not seek re-election,
declaring, "I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead
the party to victory next year."

"I never heard a more courageous statement than that," said
Mondale, for whom Dayton worked as a Senate aide in the 1970s. "He
could have said, 'Well, I want to go on to other things,' but to
say, in his own opinion, he wasn't the best candidate, that's a
very gutsy thing to say. You don't hear that sort of talk much."

Democrat Amy Klobuchar won the DFL primary and went on to beat
Kennedy by 20 points. Dayton said he thinks he would have beaten
Kennedy by six points.

Even in the campaign, Kennedy and Republicans tried to make
Dayton the issue, repeatedly mocking Dayton as "Amy's hero."

"I thought it was a typically low blow by a bunch of sewer
rats, who specialize in that kind of campaign," Dayton said.
Kennedy did not return phone messages left at his congressional
office Friday.

Joseph Kunkel, a political science professor at Minnesota State
University, Mankato, said it's hard to say whether Dayton could
have won.

"It was a good year for Democrats and Democrats in Minnesota,
and Mark Kennedy was a very poor candidate as it turned out," he
said. "But Dayton had been demonized as this ineffectual senator,
which wasn't all that deserved. Republicans were going to make him
into Senator Goofy, and he saw that coming."

Dayton said he's most proud of his vote, in October 2002,
against authorizing military force in Iraq.

"I concluded that the war would weaken our national security,
rather than strengthen it, and I have no doubt that my concerns
were validated by where we stand today. Iraq's a disaster," he
said.

But Dayton called that vote "symbolic of my situation here,"
noting that he was in a minority and that Congress approved the
resolution.

"So if I look at what I've been able to quote/unquote
accomplish here, much of what I feel best about trying to do, I've
been unsuccessful," he said.

Given that frustration, Dayton said, he's tried to focus on
constituent work and legislation tailored to Minnesota, such as:

-Setting up a health care hotline for people who have been
denied claims by HMOs and insurance companies.

-Donating his Senate salary to fund trips by seniors to buy
cheaper prescription drugs in Canada.

-Winning $3 million in federal funds for a Minnesota National
Guard pilot program, aimed at providing soldiers with counseling
and support after returning from combat.

-Securing funding for the hiring of 148 additional patrol agents
for the U.S.-Canada border.

Dayton said he doesn't rule out a return to public service,
although he won't run for Senate again. He said he doesn't know
what he'll do next, but he hopes to stay politically active. He's
offered to help out Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., if she decides to
run for president.

Dayton's work on a presidential race would likely be in the
low-profile way that he prefers.

"I'm not looking for a title," he said. "I'm looking to roll
up my sleeves and get involved. I'd rather drive in my car from one
Iowa town to another and meet with the local political leadership,
have a cup of coffee."